Forbidden
by Moonlit Dreaming
Summary: Popuri loves Jack and maybe, just maybe he feels the same. But for once it's not that simple. Twist on FoMT, Oneshot.


**Disclaimer** - I do **not** own Harvest Moon. 

**Author's note** - I got the idea for this from FoMT where, with a red heart, Popuri asks you not to treat her like a kid. Obviously she's a marriage candidate in that game, but it got me thinking about her being youngest of the girls. So here, as a kind of twist on that, I've made her a little younger and the farmer perhaps a tiny bit older than he appears in the game.

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Forbidden

"Why _not?_" I cry.

Literally, in fact, as there are tears streaming down my face now. I wish they'd cease, but I just know they won't. I cry at the most idiotic of things, like soppy films and little injured chicks, so why now, when my heart feels like it's being torn in two would I be able to stop?

Jack reaches out tentatively, as though I'm a bomb; dangerous and likely to explode at any moment. I hate him for it, yet at the same time I long to feel his touch. It may just be his fingers clumsily dabbing at my tear stained cheeks, but I relish it.

"You know why not," he mumbles eventually.

And just like that the moment is shattered. He's right though, I know _exactly_ why not.

I also know he's wrong. I'm not too young.

_Too young...Too young...Too damn young..._

Those words echo endlessly in my head. The amount of times I've heard them said though, it's hardly surprising. You'd think they'd have lost all meaning by now, but you'd be wrong. They _never_ do. Never.

The meaning is too huge, too important, too life changing for that. It's the reason I can never be with Jack, no matter how much I want it.

"You're just a kid," he tells me now. His voice is soft and quiet, but to me it feels like he's bellowing right in my ear, engraving his point on my brain. So I'll never forget.

I can still barely believe he agreed to meet me here on Mother's Hill. I thought he was sure to say no. He's constantly worrying that people will talk and accuse and he'll end up looking like a villian in the eyes of the villagers.

To be honest, I can see his point - I _am_ just a kid as far as my family's concerned - but that doesn't make it any easier.

Turning away from Jack, I wander across the wet, dewy grass to the edge of the Goddess Pond. The water refects the bright blue sky above, shimmering and shining beautifully as it does so. He follows me, but I daren't turn around for fear of what I might do.

"I love you, Jack," I whisper to water's glimmering surface. As I say it, I feel him tense next to me.

He sighs. "I know and I...like you too."

Unable to contain myself any longer, I spin to face him. "No you don't!" I insist, my pleading tone obvious to us both. "You _love_ me."

There's a long pause before he finally answers. "I know," he repeats, his voice wobbling oddly as though he's going to start crying too. "But it can _never_ work, you understand?"

Suddenly, I can't bear it. Without any thought whatsoever, I fling my arms around Jack's neck and for this one glorious time at least, he doesn't push me away. My head bobs forward of it's own accord while the rest of me freezes, too nervous to move.

And just like that we're kissing. Oh Goddess, how I love it! It's so brief and so fleeting, yet at the same time so sweet and wonderful, I convince myself it'll never end.

Only, like all good things, it does. Slowly, but pointedly, Jack draws back, his hands on my shoulders to keep me at a reasonable distance. I reaslise suddenly that I've just experienced what will simultaneously be our first and last kiss. Once again, I feel tears pricking my eyes.

"Oh, Popuri!" He reaches out again to pet me patronizingly like I'm a silly little child.

I want to shove him away so badly, but I know that'll just prove his point. Somehow I manage to stay calm.

"It's okay," this strangely grown-up, detatched voice insists.

Jack blinks back at me, confused, as I find an odd bittersweet smile gracing my lips. I touch his arm one last time, realising that if I don't leave now, I never will.

So I turn and walk away, closing my eyes tightly to stop tears dribbling down my face. It's not as though it really matters. He can't see me crying. All he can see is my head being held high like the mature adult he claims I'm not.

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**A/N** - Well, there you have it. Good? Bad? Okay? Opinions would be appreciated so please leave a review if you have time. Thanks for reading!


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